How to remove all of your personal data from your Laptop for trade in (Windows & Mac)

Person using laptop with code on screen

Trading in is a brilliant way to get rid of your old laptop as you can give it a new life with someone who needs it. Enabling it to be re-used is a more environmentally friendly choice than throwing it in the bin just for it to end up in the landfill. Plus, you can even earn some more cash or enjoy a voucher to spend on something new… I mean what’s not to love?

When trading in your old device, you’ll want to ensure that all of your data is removed. After all, there’s nothing more embarrassing than someone seeing your thousands of drunken selfies, or progress on candy crush. But it’s not just embarrassment that’s the issue, as your laptop can often hold a range of sensitive data, from social media accounts to e-mails and even confidential work documents. 

Luckily, removing data from your old laptop is as easy as pie, so you can have your laptop formatted and ready for its new owner with ease. 


Backing up your laptop (optional but recommended)

You may want to back up your old files so that they are kept safe for easy retrieval and viewing later on. After all, you never know when that online certificate from 2011 may come in handy! There are many ways to back up your laptop, two of the most popular options are using the Cloud or an External Hard Drive.

The Cloud is a brilliant choice for those who want to keep a few select documents. It’s fast, easy to access and you often get a small free amount of storage with most cloud providers. However, if you wanted to take a complete backup, an external hard drive may be a better fit, because using a large amount of storage on the cloud just for safekeeping can amount to being quite costly over time. 


How to Back up your Laptop (Mac or Windows) to the cloud.

It’s easy to back up your files to the cloud, but the instructions are slightly different depending on which platform you are using, it could be Onedrive, DropBox or iCloud. Usually, you can simply drag and drop your files into the web browser after logging in to your account. 


How to backup your laptop to a hard drive

  1. Plug in your external hard Drive (ensuring it has enough storage space for your files)
  2. Select the start menu
  3. Type backup & select backup settings
  4. Under ‘backup using file history’ select ‘add drive’
  5. Choose the external hard drive you want to use
  6. Ensure the switch for ‘automatically back up my files’ is enabled
  7. Select ‘More options’ under the toggle and add all the files and folders you would like backed up
  8. Wait for it to finish backing up
  9. Eject and remove the Hard Drive


How to back your Mac (MacOS) up to a hard drive

  1. Plug your External Hard Drive into the MacBook (ensuring it has enough storage space for your files)
  2. Check the disk icon shows up on your desktop
  3. Open Time Machine by clicking the Apple logo in the top corner of your screen and selecting system preferences
  4. Select the Disk you want to use
  5. Click ‘Replace’ to start backing up to this new disk
  6. Wait until Time Machine has finished backing up your data
  7. Safely eject Hard Drive and unplug it

Grey Laptop next to external hard drive


Erasing all data

How to wipe your laptop

Windows 11 

  1. Click the start button in the left hand corner
  2. Open settings
  3. Click 'system'
  4. Select 'recovery' on the right side
  5. Under the recovery options, select 'reset this PC'
  6. Click 'remove everything'
  7. Choose 'local resinstall' when asked to how you would like to reinstall Windows.  
  8. Then click 'next' and 'reset'

Windows 10 

  1. Click Start in the bottom left corner
  2. Open up the settings
  3. Hit ‘update & security
  4. Click ‘recovery’
  5. Follow the instructions
  6. Opt for ‘remove everything’ when given the choice


Windows 8 

  1. Click the Start button in the left corner
  2. Open up the settings
  3. Click ‘change PC settings’ 
  4. Select ‘remove everything and reinstall windows’, ensuring ‘thoroughly’ is selected when given the option


How to wipe your Mac

  1. Hold down the ‘Command’ and ‘R’ keys
  2. Click ‘erase’ & select ‘7 passes erase’
  3. Wait until it has finished erasing

Laptop with blank screen on table with book, coffee and pencil


So there you have it! The simple way to ensure all your data is removed from a laptop before a Windows Laptop or Mac before trade-in. We hope you have found this helpful. For more similar content, be sure to check out our Box Blogs page where we have content such as ‘DDR5 everything you need to know’ and ‘How to upgrade my laptop to Windows 11’.  


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